Published by In studying the entire story of Peter on the rooftop, you realize that he actually had a valid point. No self respecting Jew would ever touch an unclean animal, much less eat one! And yet, here is Peter who is quite hungry, having to deal with a whole sheet of food dropped into his lap. And to top it all off, there’s this voice that says EAT!
The first thing that Peter doesn’t realize is that, this will be the second key to the Kingdom of God that Jesus gave Him in Matthew 16:16-19. The “rock” upon which our Lord was to build His church, was the rock of revelation concerning who Jesus was.
Peter used the first key when he spoke to the group of Jewish people at the Feast of Pentecost, in Acts chapter two.
Thusly, Peter, having opened the Kingdom to the Jew first, is now about to open the Kingdom to the Gentiles as well. But he has one HUGE hurdle to get over.
Possibly remembering the words of the Lord from an earlier day,”Go not into the way of the Gentiles…” (Matt.10:5), he may be sitting on the rooftop trying to figure out why he is at a Gentiles house in the first place. He’s NOT supposed to be there.
And in approximately five years, at the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, Peter will testify before his brethren that God has made no difference between Jew and Gentile, because of what is about to happen on the rooftop.
What the Lord is going to so aptly show him in the physical will have tremendous Spiritual application for us today.
Now, here is the contradiction. Can you ever say “no”, and He remains Lord? The phrase” Not so Lord” is the problem. That is a total contradiction! Why what was this ignorant fisherman thinking? Just who does he think he is talking to, anyway? Why if I was God, I would have slapped him all the way off the roof, wouldn’t you? I mean, the NERVE of some people!!
But what if I see someone at church, work, or wherever who is truly hurting and I just walk on by. After all, they would probably think I was weird or something. Or maybe see someone broke down on the side of the road, and I’m in to big a hurry to stop. Or how about the homeless that inhabit all of our cities. Or how about the ads for helping hungry, thirsty children.
What if our nursery needs workers or the Youth group needs help, and we sit there and say,”Yeah, they sure do”. And do nothing. Personally, I haven’t a single place in the Word of God where, when a need was made known, His instructions were to send someone else.
How often does the Holy Spirit tug on our heart strings, and we say “not so Lord”. Here’s a possible solution for your Bible.
Not So,
Lord
